Guest Blogger: Freedom

Here's the promised guest post about Freedom a la Cart, the innovative way to support women who have survived the horrors of human trafficking and are building a new life.  They are working towards growing their food cart into a restaurant and they could use our help. And yes, the blogger is my sister-in-law. 

Happy Boxing Day!

Freedom is hummus. Perhaps not to you. But to me, hummus is what Freedom tastes like. The relationships I have built with survivors of Human Trafficking have propelled me to redefine Freedom, as it exists from their perspectives. Watching a survivor taste hummus for the first time brought so much joy to me. In a room of 25 survivors, no one had ever tasted it; many were hesitant to even dip a chip in it, let alone a carrot stick or pita bread. But the wide smile on the face of the first survivor who ‘dove in’, was all they needed to form a new love for this strange chick-pea blend. And that one smile led the rest of the women into a new world of ‘healthful’ eating. It was a bold move early on by one of our volunteers—but she knows that part of her volunteer work is to continue to introduce the survivors to freedom and choices that have been unknown and unavailable to them. 

ToT on Wednesday: FOOD

So I'm late. It happens.

And the crazy part is the subject is food, one of my favorite things in the world! There is SO much I could write about from a Just Living perspective . . . I have posts started on why I'm a vegetarian, ethical food choices, all kinds of good stuff. And we are going through another food shake-up around here, thanks to little guy. Turns out his little body doesn't like cow milk--or rather the proteins in it (casein and whey)--or gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and a few other grains. He doesn't have a full-on allergy, but he does have a sensitivity. If mama eats either of those items, we see skin reactions, runny nose, and a fun assortment of digestive issues in our little fella. As it turns out, theory goes if baby has a sensitivity, mama likely does too, just undetected since I've gotten used to the effects. So no dairy or gluten for me! It's been challenging, but kinda fun because it's forced some creativity. And honestly, I feel better without it.

This started a whole host of obsessive research about food, how we eat now, how we ate historically, what has changed about the food itself, what do we really need to be healthy. I've found some enlightening stuff and a few crazies. I had been toying with the idea of being vegan for awhile, for a lot of reasons. (Mark Bittman, for one, has lots of info, and while you can read about dairy in particular here, the information applies to lots of factory farmed foods.) As it stands, I am semi-vegan--I am mostly vegan, but I am OK with eating some animal products here and there. For me, that includes honey, eggs (we get ours via Green Bean Delivery from a pastured farm in northern Indiana), and occasional fish (though fishing practices make me cringe, that is a project for another day). We also eat a good amount of organic food, though we are not psycho about it or anything. And we are working on cutting sugar around here, too. It is fun to eat, but it is kind of the devil.

So . . . I wanted to share a favorite recipe with you, at the request of my Together on Tuesday friends. And I wanted it to be something that fits the criteria above. That ruled out some of my favorite cakes, cookies, and tarts, as well as some gooey, cheesy dishes. But it leaves one of my all-time favorites that I've been making for nearly a decade, and one of my most-requested recipes: straight-up, plan and simple hummus.

Hummus

1 16 oz can garbanzos, rinsed (or about 1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzos, which is even better. BPA-free cans suggested if you go the canned route.)

2 cloves garlic

Juice of 1 lemon, or about 3 Tbsp

3 Tbsp Tahini (sesame paste)

3 tsp cumin powder, toasted

Olive Oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Sea salt 

Garnish with paprika, chopped parsley, tomatoes, kalmata olives

Toast cumin in a dry pan until scent is strong and set aside.

Crush garlic and saute in olive oil until cooked through

Add garbanzos, tahini, garlic with oil, some salt, cumin, a couple Tbsp of water, and about half the lemon juice into a food processor. Gradually stream in some olive oil and water as you process until smooth. 

(If using a blender, add liquids first and add garbanzos gradually.)

Adjust consistency by adding olive oil or water a bit at a time. 

Spread into a serving dish and drizzle with olive oil, lemon, salt, and pepper,

Extra yummy if you let it stand a day and then garnish as above. I always serve it with veggies, and pita is another popular choice.

Nothing fancy, but it's a staple around here, and it's one of my comfort foods. I hope you like it!

Check out the other Together on Tuesday bloggers, listed to the right, for more favorites.

Daily Detox: Hair Care

So this isn't a terribly Lenten topic at all, but I've been meaning to write for awhile per a friend's request. I've finally [almost] completely detoxed my hair care routine, and that is tough for a curly girl! If your hair is naturally curly, or even wavy, I think you might find some useful info here.

First to detox: negativity. All you have to do is Google "curly hair unprofessional" to see the bias against curls in the world. Ridiculous, and honestly it smacks of some racism. Why fight with your hair? My personal care handbook for safety and environmental responsibility, No More Dirty Looks, was inspired by an ugly turn of events when the authors were searching for the perfect fix for their frizz. One of them has big, wild curls like I do. And when she began allowing her hair to do what God and nature intended, it was healthier, tidier, and prettier.

Now I've only attempted straightening my mane a few times, and it was really not worth it. But I've spent far too much time trying to figure out how to 'control' my unruly mane. Now that we get along, I have more time to spend on much more important things! My routine is streamlined, my products are fewer and safer, and the result is much improved (if you ask me).

I have been playing with natural haircare for about 5 years now, to varying success. No More Dirty Looks helped me find products that actually work. And after years of investigating curl care techniques, the Curly Girl method is the best I've found. I'll leave it to you to read the hows and whys. In a nutshell, conventional products are too harsh, bad for our hair, bad for our scalps and lungs, and bad for the environment. Here's what I'm doing now:

Shampoo: No more than every 3 days, barring secondhand smoke exposure (ick). When I do shampoo, I use a gentle, sulfate-free cleanser, such as Alaffia products. Some conditioners have enough surfectant to do the job, too. I focus on cleansing my scalp, using my fingertips to massage the product in a circular pattern. No lather needed! (Foam strips the hair of essential moisture, anyway.) I rinse well, focusing on the scalp, but I touch my curls as little as possible.

Conditioner: Once a week, I do a conditioning treatment. When I wash my hair, I use a deeper conditioner than normal. When I don't, I use a leave-in conditioner from Beautiful Curls. This stuff is the best I have found! I lighly coat the top of my hair, then I use my fingers and a bit more product to work through any tangles. No combs here! If I think there is a lot of product left, I might rinse lightly. I leave the product on until I get out of the shower, and I leave my curls alone.

Drying: I use a t-shirt to dry my hair right away. I lay it over my hand and scrunch my curls to get excess water out. The end!

Styling: I use an aloe-vera lotion when my hair is wet. 3 parts aloe vera gel to 1 part water, plus a few drops of lavender oil for scent. I lightly run some over the top of my hair, and then I scrunch it in to my curls. I use about 4 clips to prop my roots up (check out Curly Girl for details) and let it air dry. I sleep on my curls with no problem, but it works well in the morning if you have lots of time to air dry. In the morning, I might use an extra product (if it's raining or I have something super important at the end of my day), and I'm loving Kinky-Curly's Spiral Spritz. I use just a little plus some water to scrunch my curls up. If I have some weirdness at the scalp, I run my hands under my curls, close to my scalp, and wiggle them a bit until the curls break up. I'm finishing with a spritz of hairspray, which my favorite stylist calls a curly girl's best friend. It took a LONG time to find a natural hairspray I actually like, but the ladies at No More Dirty Looks were right on when they suggested Simply Organic.

Whew! That sounds like a lot, but I promise it's simple--especially compared with frying my hair every day with a blow dryer or flat iron. No, thanks. And my hair looks still looks fresh at the end of the day, which was not the case before.

These products cost more than drugstore brands, but about the same or less than salon brands (aside from Simply Organic--that's a splurge). They also have better quality ingredients that don't hurt our water supply in consumption or production (at least, not as much as conventional petroleum based products).

Another bonus: Alaffia and Beautiful Curls are made with fair trade shea butter that supports women's cooperatives in various parts of the world. So, in celebrating natural texture and trying to keep my body and the environment healthy, I am also supporting women around the world. Gotta love that!

So there you have it, the life and times of my newly detoxed curls. If you have curls of your own, I hope you find this helpful! If you've been hiding your curls or waves, I hope I've inspired you to give them another try. They are beautiful! Have a lovely week!

Daily Detox: Coffee

This is not one of those caffeine or no-caffeine discussions. That's up to you. My husband and I have debated this endlessly to no avail.

Instead, I suggest switching to Fair Trade, Organic Coffee only.

Bigwig coffee companies, like Nestle, Kraft, and Proctor & Gamble, get to set the prices they pay the farmers. If they are paying farmers disgustingly low prices, farmers don't make enough to pay their workers well or support their families. While farmers in Vietnam are selling for 60% of production costs, or a woman in Tanzania made $15 for a year's crop, I'm sure CEOs of big companies are making plenty. Not to mention the slavery and child labor happening in coffee plantations around the world.

For more information on the plight of coffee workers, check out Everyday Justice or Green America.

With coffee workers receiving 1-6% of what we actually pay for coffee, our cheap coffee has a global impact. Coffee is a luxury; human dignity is not.

I wouldn't work for pennies unless I was desperate. Why should the people who grow my food?

Fair trade isn't perfect, but it seeks to make sure the workers to bring the coffee to our tables are treated well and paid a fair wage for their hard work. Organic coffee is better for the environment and workers, and organic coffee is often shade-grown, which is better for our forests.

It's getting easier to find fair trade, and the the quality is superior to Maxwell House and Folger's. Trader Joe's has a lot of fair trade options, but look carefully--some are fair, some are not. Your typical grocery store is starting to carry some, too. If you don't find them in the coffee aisle, check the natural foods section. Green Mountain and Equal Exchange are among the more popular fair trade companies. There are more, though--look for the fair trade label. Even Starbucks has gotten on the ethical coffee bandwagon. While their products aren't certified, they claim to be sourcing their coffee in ethical ways.

This is a simple way to make the world a better place! When you pay a bit more for a quality cup of Joe, know you are helping a family send their child to school, or keep their farm, or simply eat. I hope someday we don't even have to discuss this, and that all of the products we purchase are sold with human dignity first in mind.

No More Dirty Looks

For the last 6 years or so, natural and homemade personal care products have been the norm around here. Sadly, I found myself slowly compromising my standards for the sake of quality or convenience, thinking my lungs can probably handle a little bit of polymer (read:plastic!) from my hairspray . . . things like that. It was time for a reality check. Enter Siobhan and Alexandra from No More Dirty Looks.

Loved it! The book is so informative and readable--much more so than others I've read on the topic. I'm so glad Cara sent it my way. After tearing through my library copy, I had to buy it (secondhand, of course). It works like a handbook, with lists of dangerous ingredients as well as safer products they have tried. These ladies care about looking polished and professional, but not at the sake of their personal well-being (or negative effects on factory workers and the environment). I love that Alexandra has hair just like mine--it makes the information all the more valuable!

For example, did you know you can make hair gel out of aloe and hairspray out of lemons, water, and vodka? Did you know baking soda makes a refreshing facial scrub and coconut oil a soothing body moisturiser? Did you know that you shouldn't wash your hair daily and should only use soap sparingly?

If you're interested in caring for yourself and your planet, if you're interested in avoiding cancers, endocrine disruption, respiratory issues, or other yucky ailments, if you'd like to prevent oil spills, and if you'd like to look cute while doing it, I highly recommend this book. I've just ordered my first products on their recommendation: John Masters Sunscreen and La Vanilla fragrance. I'll keep you posted!

treating the consumption

It's time for a consumerism fast around here.

A few times, for Lent, we've given up consumerism. We combined trips and used our bikes and the bus more. We remembered to conserve water, gas, and electricity. We watched less TV. We cooked at home and composted and recycled any waste. We donated items we don't need and found new uses for old objects. If we didn't need it, we didn't buy it. Period. Material needs are limited to nutritious food and gasoline to go to work and toilet paper and the like. We make a few mindful purchases, buying fair trade, recycled, organic, and local when we can. The rest, as my husband says, is all gonna burn in the end. We already have more than enough. By deflecting attention from keeping up with our consumerist culture, we have been able to turn our attention to what really matters.

Right now, we're adjusting to new schedules and still catching up from our trip. When we're stressed, easy fixes often overtake wiser, more mindful choices. So, like we do during Lent, we're hitting the reset button and returning attention to our core values.

Are we crazy consumers like some people out there? No. But do we use more than we need? Often. We're American, it's to be expected.

It might seem a little off-base that so many of the links and topics on Just Living concern products and shopping. This is supposed to be about living simply and changing the world in small ways! The fact is, we live in a consumerist culture. Most of us shop way too much, and so often, convenience wins the day, at the expense of justice for so many people. What we buy impacts neighborhoods, resources, health, safety, and dignity for so many people. I can't call myself a justice-minded person if I shop blindly. In a consumerist culture, money is king. Companies will listen to our spending more than they listen to our words. I really believe that if our culture shifts into one of gratitude for what we have instead of constant need to upgrade and acquire more, things will start to change.

While our little week of a consumerism fast may be small, it will impact:

-the environment, as we will produce less waste and manufacturing byproducts while consuming fewer resources; this in turn impacts people around the world
-worker's rights, as we avoid purchasing items made on the backs of exploited people
-our bank account, as we eliminate wasteful spending
-our thinking, as we remember to live with less and address inconveniences creatively
-our spirits, as we feel lighter and freer and have more to give to others

So, here we go again! Anyone care to join us? We'd love to hear your ideas.

And Happy Halloween!

The Joys of Seasonal Eating

We have been LOVING our Green BEAN bin this fall. Squash of all kinds, beets, yams, and apples, all local and mostly organic. We've been revelling in the season! Roasted beets and butternut squash with cheesy polenta = comfort on a plate. Our last scrumptious creation was Roasted Pumpkin-Apple Soup.

We served it with toasted cheddar and arugula sandwiches on Scholar's Inn wheat. We used walnuts, because that's what we had, and added a splash of brandy. SO GOOD! Next fall comfort food: my famous (or should I say infamous?) veggie chili!

What do you love to make in the fall? I'm feeling adventurous, it's time for new fall recipe ideas!

Just Eating

After 10 days of eating potatoes and flour in Russia, Ben and I decided to be quite purposeful about what we eat this week. Enter Clean Eating Magazine.



We decided to stick pretty closely to their 7 day eating plan. We generally eat pretty well, but it never hurts to have some expert help.

Can I just say . . . eating well is expensive!

As a kid, everything we had was hard-earned. I learned the value of penny-pinching by necessity, not choice. We shopped smart and ate smart. We gardened all summer and canned in the fall. We did pretty well, considering, but I know that my mom would have rather had some wiggle room for more food opportunity--trading the tuna mac for more vegetables, for example. (My mom, to this day, does not enjoy tuna mac.)

As an adult, I feel strangely settled into the middle class. Penny pinching is a wise choice, but it is a choice. We pinch when we can, and we've found value in paying more for just food. We usually get our produce from Green BEAN Delivery, meaning our local and organic produce is priced a touch lower than at the grocery, and it's conveniently delivered to our door. While it costs more than conventional produce, we feel it is worth it to buy food that is better for the environment, better for the people who grow and handle it, has less distance to travel, supports local agro-business, and ultimately tastes better and is better for us.

Since we were gone for 10 days, the cupboards were bare and we had to hit the grocery store. We spent 50% more than we normally do. Granted, we were stocking up, but it was painful. My childhood taught me many ways I could have saved $$ at the grocery. Organic soymilk is twice as expensive as conventional cow's milk. Organic spinach is over 4 times as expensive as conventional iceburg lettuce. Conventional eggs are half the price of eggs from cage-free, vegetarian fed hens. You get the picture.

I don't fault consumers for pinching pennies, especially in these economic times. Our food system has made cheap, abundant food mainstream--and even so, people are struggling. But food producers and suppliers (and I'm talking about top levels here) have been cashing in at our expense. Aside from issues of sustainability, how did it come to be that overprocessed, lower-nutrient foods are the norm? Why is it cheaper to eat yellow cake from a box than to eat a spinach salad? Why should it be a luxury to eat well?

Ben and I struggle with this as we weigh the cost of conventional vs. local, organic dairy. It hurts to pay more, and sometimes we go for cheap. But we can afford to shop our values, so we strive to. And basic economics tells us that increasing demand for quality food can lead to lower production costs, right?

I could write about food for days, and many people have done so much better than I could. Check out Food Inc or In Defense of Food, for starters.